Hairbrush cleaner



Aug. 21, 1951 J. J. RAYA 2,564,721

HAIR BUSH CLEANER Filed Feb. 14, 1947 fVvE/yor JUL/AN JOHN DA YA .5v Hrs ATTORNEY: /721942/5, /K/ECH, sf@ HARP/5 @and Patented Aug. 21, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE HAIRBRUSH CLEANER Julian John Raya, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application February 14, 1947, Serial No. 728,563

2 Claims.

My invention relates to cleaning devices and particularly to a device adapted for use in cleaning various types of brushes. invention pertains to a comb-like device capable of removing hairs, threads or other lamentary material from the bristles of brushes.

It is well known that during the use of various types of brushes, particularly hair brushes, hair withdrawn from the head becomes matted between the bristles and impairs the eiiiciency of the brush. It is a common practice to utilize an ordinary hair comb and to draw the teeth of the comb through the bristles in an effort to dislodge and remove the filaments. This method of removing the hairs is inefficient for the reason that the openings or slots between the teeth of the comb are comparatively wide and the hairs cannot be gripped therein to be withdrawn from the bristles. If, on the other hand, the comb slots are made narrow enough to engage the hairs, they will engage also the bristles of the brush, thus causing damage and possible withdrawal of the bristles from the brush and obviously such combs having such acutely narrow slots are unsuitable for use in grooming the hair on the head.

It is an object of my invention to avoid the diiculties experienced when removing hair from brushes by the conventional methods and means by providing a brush cleaner having means for dislodging the matted hairs and removing the same from the bristles of the brush.

Another object is to provide a device, of the character referred to, which resembles and operates in the manner of a comb but which has comb slots of improved shape, said slots being provided with slit portions of restricted width capable of receiving hairs but excluding the bristles of the brush so that the matted laments are gripped therein and stripped from the bristles upon relative movement between the device and the brush.

Another object is to provide a device, of the type indicated above, which may be madel in various sizes capable of removing threads and like laments from the tufts of brushes employed in carpet-sweepers, suction-cleaners, etc.

Another object is to provide a brush cleaner which is adapted for economical manufacture from a single piece of plastic material of desired color, and to produce a device having an especially pleasing appearance.

Further objects of my invention will appear from the following specification and from the drawing, which is intended for purposes of illustration only, and in which:

Speciiically, the

2 'Fig 1 is a perspective view of my improved brush cleaner, showing it applied to use in removing hairs lengthwise of a hair brush;

Fig. 2 is a similar view, illustrating the manner of removing hairs transversely ofthe brush;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view, taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4. is an end elevational view of the device as viewed in the direction of arrow 4 in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a view illustrating the manner in which foreign matter may be dislodged from the face of the brush.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the brush cleaner 6 herein shown, by way of example, is of a type suitable for cleaning hair brushes. The cleaner 6 may be made from a single strip of plastic material capable of being dyed in colors to match or harmonize with toilet and dresser accessories. rIhe cleaner 6 consists of a curved handle portion 'I having a widened head portion 8 which curves downwardly from one end of the handle portion. At the lower end of the head portion il is a transverse flange constituting a comb portion 9.

The comb portion 9 is provided with a plurality of tapered comb teeth I0 having tapered, relatively acute, comb slots II therebetween. The slots I I have their upper apex ends tapered more obtusely, as shown at I2 in'Fig. 4, and at their apices the material is slitted to provide very narrow slits or openings I 3, the width of each slit being substantially equal to the thickness of a human hair and much less than the thickness of the bristles used in conventional hair brushes.

At the opposite end of the handle portion 1, the material is slotted to provide a pair of slightly tapered prongs I4 which are used for the purpose to be explained hereinafter.

My improved brush cleaner 6 is applied to use in the following manner: Assuming that it is desirable to remove matted hairs from between the bristles I9 of a hair brush 20 of the conventional type, the handle portion 'I of the comb cleaner 6 is held in one hand of the user and the handle 2I of the hair brush 20 held in the other hand. The toothed end 9 of the cleaning device 6 is then placed against the surface 22 of the brush 20 as shown in Fig. l, after which the device is drawn longitudinally along the brush. The slots II 'of the comb portion 9 are so spaced and of a size to receive the tufts or bunches of the bristles so that as the cleaning device is drawn along, the teeth I0 of the comb will be disposed between the rows of tufts and, because they are relatively pointed at their ends and engage the surface 22 at an angle (Fig. 3), they act to dislodge any hairs 26 which cling to or which are matted between the tufts of bristles or between the bristles themselves. Referring to Fig. 4, it will be noted that the slits I3 are of such narrow width that the bristles i9 of the brush 20 are prevented from entering thereinto. On the other hand, thefslits 1S Yai'e'capable of areceiving the individual .hairs '25 so that the latter may accumulate therein during the pulling of the device across the brush with a raking or scraping action. The device may be pulled along the tufted `part of the brush as many times as are deemed necessary to properly remove all the hairs, it having been found that a single operation is usually sufcient. Since the spacing of the `tufts of thebrush is usually the same in both directions, the device may also be drawn across the bristles in a transverse direction as shown in Fig. 2. After all the matted hair has been removed from the brush by the operation explained above, and is collected in the slits I3, it may be readily stripped therefrom to prepare'the device for a subsequent operation.

While the ends of the teeth IG may also serve to scrape the surface 22 of the brush 20, it has been found advantageous to .provide a pronged scraper shown at .I4 for thispurpose. By drawing the prongs I4 between the rows of bristles in the manner illustrated in Fig. 5, dandruff, hair oils and otherforeignmatter may be scraped from the surface 22 to further maintain the brush clean.

It will be apparent that my improved brush cleaner may be employed for cleaning brushes otherthan those used for grooming-the hair. For example, comb-like cleaning devices in which the combslots are provided `with narrow slit portions may -be utilized to-great advantage in removing hairs, threads and other la-rnents from carpetsweeper brushes and the like.

If desired, the cleaning device may be stamped fromstainless steel or other metal. Such a device is particularly adapted for use in combing and cleaning the fur of dogs and other animals and the tip ends of the comb teeth are preferably rolled around to provide smooth surfaces so :as not to scratch -the skin of the animal. In sucha device, the comb slits are of'a width capable of permitting hairs-to pass therethrough but catching and retaining matted fur and foreign matter.

While I have herein shown and described the invention as embodied in a preferred form of construction, by way of example, it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the structure of the brush cleaner without departing from the spirit of the invention. Consequently, I do not wish to be limited in this respect, but desire Jto be afforded the full scope of the appended claims. i

I claim as my invention:

l. In a brush cleaner, a comb portion. said comb portion comprising a plurality of spaced teeth, each of said teeth comprising a relatively 4long narrow end portion and a relatively Wide base portion, the width of said teeth changing abruptly at the juncture of said end portions and said base portions, the space between adjacent base portions being of the same order of magnitude as the diameter of a human hair.

2. In a brush cleaner, ahead portion, ,a .plurality of teeth extending from saidhead portion, said teeth being spaced apart at A.their base por.'- tions, .narrow slits extending into saidhead portion from the spacesbetweensaid base portions, the width of said slits .being uniform throughout their ,lengths and substantially less than the spacing between said baseportions, .theiwidthy of each` of said slits being of substantially the same order ofniagnitude .as the diameter of a human hair.

JULIAN JOHN RAYA.

REFERENCES .CITED The following references are of lrecord .in the le of .-this patent:

vUNITED STATES 'PATENTS `Germany June v,1,1904 

